Slump? I ain't in no slump... I just ain't hitting.
We all know that players will hit a few more home runs than usual in some years and a few less in others. But the mathematics of chance also predicts that some years they'll hit a lot more, and some years a lot less.
Rick Miller hit only one home run last year, and that's like hitting none.
That's how easy baseball was for me. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but I had the knowledge before I became a professional baseball player to do all these things and know what each guy would hit.
Reading isn't good for a ballplayer. Not good for his eyes. If my eyes went bad even a little bit I couldn't hit home runs. So I gave up reading.
At the Home Run Derby, you're expected to hit home runs. You're up there trying to hit home runs.
I know I can hit. My defense has been there. I'm trying to show what I can do on the basepaths as well.
The difference between winning nineteen games and winning twenty for a pitcher is bigger than anyone out of baseball realizes. It's the same for hitters - someone who hits .300 looks back on the guy who batted .295 and says 'tough luck buddy.
I was in the American League for 16, 17 years, and I think it's a really tough league to compete in.
I have a relationship with Christ. It allows me to handle situations better. It allows me to treat people better and it allows me to have a better mental attitude towards baseball.
On-base percentage is great if you can score runs and do something with that on-base percentage. Clogging up the bases isn't that great to me. The problem we have to address more than anything is the home run problem.
You always expect to hit for more power.
I played good ball in the minor leagues, and that's why they called me up to the major leagues.
I believe in our players. That's why they're here. I also know slumping is part of baseball. What's surprising is sometimes when it lasts awhile, for really good players when it lasts awhile.
In Cuba, I would start the first two months hitting around .260 with three or four home runs. After the first half of the season, I would get hot, and that's when I would have my best results.
I have a 48-hour rule. No drinking two days before a start. But those other days? Yes, I'm gonna go out. If I was locked up in my house all week, I don't know what I'd be like on the baseball field.
I think that a starting pitcher has to do something special to be as valuable or more so than a position player.
He (Buck Showaleter) never even smelled a jock in the big leagues. Mr. Baseball never even got a hit in Triple-A. I was a better player than him, I have more money than him and I'm better looking than him.
The questions don't happen when you hit 30 homers, right? If you hit 30 home runs, you hit 40 doubles, I don't think anybody questions your conditioning or your offseason program.
I do my best hitting when I'm walking. That means I'm relaxed and my pitch recognition is a lot better.
If that guy (Mickey Mantle) were healthy, he'd hit 80 home runs.
Baseball has always been filled with negative statistics.
You're not going to win by automatically going out there. It's hard to know what people really expect of you, and I've never tried to live up to expectations anyway. That's no way to play baseball.
I'm not executing my pitches. I'm not commanding my fastball, and I get behind in the count. When I try to throw strikes, I'm getting hurt. That's not the way I pitch.
You have to hit the fastball to play in the big leagues.
